Scriptorium con safos: Yard

Join us for a special performance of Scriptorium con safos: Yard by Josh T. Franco, which will take place in ICA's current exhibition, Where I Learned to Look: Art from the Yard. The piece demonstrates Franco's practice of making art history by hand and resonates with the themes of reclamation and personal expression inherent to the exhibition.

This performance will take place in the 1st-floor galleries at 1 PM, followed by a conversation between Josh T Franco, Jeff Koons, and Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw.

ICA is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all visitors. For more notes on accessibility including accessible parking nearby visit our Accessibility landing page. If you require any accessibility accommodations or have any questions about the program, please contact Brittany Clottey ([email protected]).

Josh T. Franco (b. 1985) is an artist and art historian from West Texas. He received his BA in Art History from Southwestern University in 2006, his MA in Philosophy, Interpretation & Culture from Binghamton University in 2010, and his PhD in Art History from Binghamton University, in 2016. As both an artist and art historian, Franco aims to ensure that his scholarship is constantly informed by the processes of making and exhibiting work and vice versa. He transforms his art historical research into artworks by incorporating archival materials, references to annotations, and his findings into his sculptures, videos, and performance work. By having one practice inform the other, he insists that art historical scholarship is also made by hand. Franco is the 6th Sachs Guest Curator at ICA.

celebrates the foundational role of yards in shaping contemporary art in America. Building upon existing scholarship on Yard Art, artwork created to exist in the transitional space between the home and wider world, artist and art historian Josh T. Franco examines the lineage of this robust American art form which has historically existed outside of museum and gallery spaces. Featuring over 30 works, the exhibition spotlights both community and academically taught artists over the past five decades including David Driskell, vanessa german, Donald Judd, Noah Purifoy, and Finnegan Shannon, revealing connections across communities in creative world-building with what is available. This exhibition is part of ICA’s Sachs Guest Curator Program, which since 2007 has funded artists and interdisciplinary creatives to curate ambitious contemporary art presentations and actualize projects that leverage the space of resources of ICA to examine emerging and underrecognized creative practices.

Programming at ICA is made possible in part by the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Fund to Support Contemporary Culture and Visual Arts and the Lise Spiegel Wilks and Jeffrey Wilks Family Foundation. Public and Student Engagement at ICA is supported by the Bernstein Public Engagement Fund, Suzanne Weiss Doft & Jacob W. Doft, Stacey & Robert Goergen Jr., Hilarie L. & Mitchell Morgan, the Nash Family Foundation, Joline & David Stemerman, and by Dana McDonald Strong & Mark W. Strong.

ICA gratefully acknowledges support from the Katherine (CW’69) and Keith L. Sachs(W’67) Guest CuratorProgram. Additional support has been provided by Linda & Jeffrey Chodorow, Arthur Cohen & Daryl Otte, B.Z. & Michael Schwartz, Patricia & Howard Silverstein, and The Study at University City.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, United States